


This World Will See

by ShowMeAHero



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Children, Domestic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family, Force-Sensitive Leia Organa, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Leia comforts Poe after his mother dies, heavy on the 'comfort'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 13:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13236279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: After Shara dies, Kes brings Poe to Leia because he just can't be alone in their house anymore. Leia comforts him, and eight-year-old Poe, who's only just lost his mother.





	This World Will See

**Author's Note:**

> Char asked us to "[pls imagine Leia comforting 8-year-old Poe when Shara dies and cry with me,](https://twitter.com/CharCubed/status/947178242032758785)" so, of course, I had to assist in the imagining.
> 
> Title pulled from "[I Was Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i41qWJ6QjPI)" by Beyoncé.

Leia was on Chandrila, again, with Han and Ben in tow, for yet another round of political meetings, and finally had a night off - without any dinners, or forums, or councils she had to go to. Han had some hunk of metal in his hands, sitting on the floor in front of their quarters’ small fireplace with it. Ben sat curiously next to him, all of five years old, handing small tools to Han when asked for them. Leia passed by, crouching to kiss her son on the top of his soft head on her way to the couch. He smiled up at her, then reached out a hand, his fingers curling slightly. In the next moment, Leia felt a warmth stretch out from the Force, wrapping around her snuggly.

“Thank you, Ben,” she said, and her son smiled at her before returning to his father’s work. Leia fell into an armchair close to the fire, drawing heat from it, trying to warm her extremities, watching her son lift a tiny laser-wrench, something Chewbacca must have taught him how to use, since he was handling it with actual care. He gingerly placed it in Han’s hand just when there was a knock at the door.

“Someone’s here, Mommy,” Ben said, glancing back at her. Han turned to look at her, and she sighed, getting back to her feet and going to the door. She tapped into the panel beside the door and saw, on the other side, a face she had not seen in a little while, and had not expected to see again so soon. She immediately pressed her palm to open the door.

“Kes,” Leia said, surprised, concerned. He looked terrible; his eyes were red-rimmed, his face exhausted, his shoulders drooping. He had his hand in his son’s, and Poe looked equally terrible, hanging his head down, staring at the floor. Luke stood behind them both, in what appeared to be his sleep clothes.

“I found them in the lobby,” Luke said. “They told them you said you weren’t to be disturbed, but I figured, well-”

“Of course,” Leia said. She stepped aside. “Kes, come in. All of you - it’s okay, Poe, you, too.”

Kes walked in, leading Poe, who seemed nervous to be where he was. He saw Ben, watching him from the floor with his big dark eyes, and looked away. Luke shut the door behind them all and stood by the door, hesitant. Han stood up.

“Kes,” Han began, and Kes shook his head, looking down at the floor. Poe released his hand and stared into the fireplace as Kes’ shoulders started to shake.

“Oh, Kes, come sit down,” Leia said, settling her hand on Kes’ shoulder and leading him to the couch to sit. He sat, falling like a sack of stones, and dropped his head into his hands.

“I’m so sorry,” Kes managed to say, rubbing at his wet face. “I just- I got your letter, and I didn’t know what else to do, and I-” He shook his head, catching his breath. “I couldn’t be in that house anymore. Not right now. Not without…” He broke off, sobbing. Leia rubbed his back. He glanced up at Han, sitting on his left, then to Leia, on his right. “I thought you might… You both might understand.”

“Of course,” Leia said. “Shara was one of my closest friends.”

“Amazing pilot,” Han added. Kes nodded, rubbing at the back of his head with both hands.

“Shit,” he said. “Shit, I don’t know what to do without her.”

Leia kept murmuring to him, letting Han talk as she reached into the Force to let waves of relaxation and peace wash over Kes, to help him stop crying. She glanced to the side, and saw Luke sitting on the floor, beside Ben, and Poe, who was still silent, staring into the fireplace.

“Poe,” Ben said, in his high child’s voice. “It’s gonna be okay. You can cry if you want.”

Poe shook his head.

“Do you want a hug?” Ben asked. Poe shook his head again. “Okay. Do you want to play?”

“No, thanks,” Poe said, looking down at his hands. Luke reached out and laid a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Luke asked. He had started growing out his hair and his beard on his way to becoming a Jedi master, but he still was only halfway to growing it all the way out. Between his beard, his hair tied up in a bun, and his soft sleep clothes, he looked like every inch the kind, gentle uncle he usually was. Poe seemed to sense it in him, but shook his head anyways, inching closer to him. Luke opened his arms, and Poe shuffled into them, pressing his forehead to Luke’s shoulder.

“I miss my mom,” Leia heard Poe say into the folds of Luke’s shirt, before he clenched his fists in the fabric and started to cry. Luke started rubbing his back, looking up to make eye contact with his sister. Leia left Kes to Han and stood, coming to kneel beside Poe and put her hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, his face red and tear-stained, barely breathing through his hiccuping sobbing.

“Poe,” Kes said, but Poe didn’t seem to hear him, staring at Leia from within Luke’s embrace. Ben looked back at Han, at a loss for what to do, and Han beckoned to him, to come closer. Ben ran to his father’s arms and let Han lift him up into his lap, burying his face in his father’s neck.

“Poe,” Leia said, quietly. Poe kept crying, but he peeled back a little from Luke, who kept rubbing his back. Leia could feel her brother reaching out within the Force to try to soothe him, but Poe’s grief seemed too great to be fixed by him that way. Leia leaned in and touched the ring on the chain around his neck.

“What’s this?” Leia asked. He took it from her hand and held it up.

“Mama’s wed- wedding ring,” Poe told her, still crying, his voice stilted and catching on every syllable. “Pa- Papa gave it to me, but it- it- it doesn’t fit on my hand.”

“It’s beautiful,” Leia told him. “So beautiful.” She reached out and cupped Poe’s head in her hand, and he tipped his face into her palm, starting to cry in earnest again, not calming at all. She tugged slightly at him, and he went to her, folding into her lap and sobbing all over again.

“You flew with your mother, didn’t you?” Leia asked. Poe didn’t have it in him to answer anymore, so she just kept rubbing his back, his curls of black hair tickling under his chin where he tucked his head. His hands fisted in the soft fabric of her dress, little knuckles going white as he gripped at her. “I remember when she told me about your first flight. She took you up and let you play with the controls, you were only two, and you started doing barrel rolls right away.” She reached down and took Poe’s chin in her hand, tilting his face up. He stared up at her, dark eyes red-rimmed and swollen, face red and wet, lip bitten and cheeks flushed. “You were meant to be a pilot. She told me so. She knew you were going to be just like her.”

“Really?” Ben asked, behind her. Leia nodded, still making eye contact with Poe.

“She told me she knew you’d be just like her,” Leia said. “She said you know how important it is to stand up to the Empire, and to help free the galaxy.”

Poe nodded, still sobbing, inconsolable. She pulled him in again, tucking his head under her chin again and rocking him slightly. Luke stood and left the room as Leia started talking again, just pulling up anything and everything she could think to say about Shara. She told him every story she could think of, and when Luke came back in with a cup of water for Kes and a smaller one for Poe, he told her about the missions they went on, too. He told him about the Force tree Poe remembered from his own front yard, and Poe stared up at him from Leia’s embrace until he calmed down enough to breathe normally again.

“I’m sorry,” Poe sniffled, and Leia shook her head.

“No, Poe,” she said. “No, don’t be sorry.  _ I’m  _ sorry.” She hugged him close, squeezing him tight, and he buried his face against her chest. He relaxed, apparently worn out by it all, and Leia kept talking to him, softly, feeling like she had when Ben was a baby, needing to be comforted and soothed because he couldn’t quite understand his own emotions. It still felt the same with Poe.

Soon enough, Leia had Poe calmed down enough that he shut his eyes and fell, shuddering, into a deep sleep. Leia kept stroking his back, reaching up to smooth her fingers through his hair, pressing her face to the crown of his head. She glanced up at Kes, who was watching her, silent, beside Han and Ben.

“Why don’t you stay a while?” Leia asked. Kes nodded, then stood, coming to take Poe from Leia’s lap. He curled against his father, too big to be held still but seeming smaller in sleep, in his sadness. Leia stood and leaned in, pressing her forehead to Poe’s before kissing him between the eyes.

“You can stay in my room,” Luke told Kes. “I’ve got an extra bed.”

“I’ve got Ben’s extra cot,” Han said, setting his son down on the floor. “I’ll go grab it and bring it next door for you.”

“Thank you,” Kes said, quietly, before looking down at Leia. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“You don’t have to,” Leia told him. “For you, Kes,” she began, then looked down to Poe again, “and for Shara’s son? I’d do anything.” Leia stroked Poe’s hair away from his face. “Stay as long as you need. I’ll help in any way I can.”

Kes nodded, and let Leia pull him down to kiss him on the forehead, too, before Luke and Han led him and Poe away to go to sleep. Ben ran over to his mother as soon as the door shut behind them, clutching her leg.

“I’m sorry,” Ben said, burying his face in her dress against her waist. She stroked his long black hair back, then leaned down to kiss him on the nose and hug him tightly.

“I love you,” Leia told him, softly. He hugged her tighter, then let her lift him up and take him back to the couch to lay down with her, dozing against his mother’s chest in the firelight. Han came back in, shutting the door quietly when he saw Ben sleeping.

“Luke’s got them all set up,” Han told her. “Kid’s already out like a light.” He sat down beside Leia, scratching at the back of his neck. “Hard to see.”

“Sure is,” Leia agreed. She leaned her head against his shoulder. “We’ll have to watch out for them.”

“We’ll keep them around,” Han assured her. He lapsed into silence and Leia, content in the quiet, relaxed there, still thinking about Poe’s crying, Kes’ face. She resolved to herself to take care of Poe as if he were her own, to watch over him, to take him in like he was Ben, like she knew Shara would have done if it had been the other way around.

“What’re you thinking about?” Han asked, and Leia just shook her head, turning her face into his shoulder. He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head, his hand dangling down to brush Ben’s cheek. Leia sighed, staring into the fire, and started already organizing in her mind what she was going to do with Kes and Poe the next day.

**Author's Note:**

> Poe is eight here, Ben is about five years old.
> 
> I have a blog now to request imagines - I just like to make people happy. Submit requests [here!](https://imagine-in-the-fandoms.tumblr.com/ask)
> 
> I also actually wrote a book. It was a long road but, I did it! Ta-da! It's about two young ladies who hunt aliens and fall in love. If you want to read it, shoot me a message!
> 
> You can follow me on Twitter at [@nicoIodeon](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


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